


Generally Unbearable

by arimabat



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Banter, F/M, Post-Iron Man 2, Pre-Avengers (2012), Tony Stark Has Daddy Issues, Tony and Pepper talk, angst & fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-14 17:08:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15393450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arimabat/pseuds/arimabat
Summary: "Then maybe you’ll meet him, Mister Consultant.”“Oh, yeah. I’ll be all consulting. Cozying up to the superheroes.”“You’d better. I want an autograph. A real-life hero, back from the dead. It’s a miracle…”Pepper comes to tell Tony the news that Steve Rogers has been found alive. They discuss this development.





	Generally Unbearable

He fell back, staring with satisfaction at the new unibeam. Bringing up his hand to wipe away assorted sweat and grime, he grinned at the elegant device.

“Turn the music off,” he said, thinking that this was definitely cause for a drink. And a nice hot shower before Pepper -

“Miss Potts is here to see you,” said Jarvis.

“Already?” He didn’t think it was that late yet. Had he forgotten… what? He must have definitely forgotten something - a meeting or an appointment or a party or… please, please let it not have been a date. It _couldn’t_ be that late yet.

She was walking down the stairs and he walked towards her, ready to make his excuses. “Tony?”

“Hey, I didn’t miss that - eh - that _thing_ , I was totally on top of it -“

“No, it’s -“

“Yeah, listen, I’m sorry -“

“You didn’t miss anything.”

“I didn’t?”

“No. I’m back early.”

“Oh. Yeah. Good.”

Pepper rolled her eyes, having covered most of the space between the two of them. Tony stared into her eyes for a moment in quiet appreciation, but clearly she was in no mood to just stand there. “I think you’d better check the news.”

“What? What is it?”

Something in Pepper’s tone made him tap one of the numerous screens in front of him, calling up a small hologram. A sharp inhale of breath.

“Is that -“

Pepper came up next to him, so much closer than she might have even a few months ago. It still exhilarated him, even now - her mere presence making him feel so alive. Because that was it: she was _present_ in a way few people were, so here and ready and wired in to the very moment that she spoke to him with such focus, such energy. Challenging him in a way no one else managed to, never ceasing to surprise or blind-side him.

Yet even as he thought about her, his attention quickly shifted to the picture on the screen. On the text below it.

_Captain America still alive_

“What the hell…” muttered Tony.

“It’s breaking news. Apparently he survived because he was frozen for almost seventy years.”

“So he’s… That means he’s still as old as he was way back when.”

“Yeah. In the Second World War. All that time passed and… he hasn’t aged.” They stared at the picture of the young man with the square jaw and blonde hair, all pretty and smooth and handsome in that god-awful outfit. Looking straight at the camera, dignified and serious. A relic from another, easier age. Not any more, apparently.

“Huh,” he said eventually. “How’d they find him?”

“Some expedition mission in the Arctic, apparently.”

“SHIELD’ll be all over this, of course.”

“Probably.”

“I bet Fury will be looking to recruit him.”

“To… What was it, the Avengers?”

“Yeah. The Avengers Initiative.”

“Then maybe you’ll meet him, Mister Consultant.”

“Oh, yeah. I’ll be all consulting. Cozying up to the superheroes.”

“You’d better. I want an autograph. A real-life hero, back from the dead. It’s a miracle…” She spoke the words in a reverential tone that sent an uncomfortable tingle through Tony.

“An autograph? Sure I’ll get an autograph and maybe one of those - eh - one of those trading packs with all the cards? You know -“

“Yeah, the collector’s editions -“

“With all the cards. Yeah. And maybe a poster and you can hang it on your wall plus maybe some vintage clothes - do you think I could get a uniform? Yeah, maybe the cap, or -“

“So much spandex.”

“Yeah. Spandex.”

That light smile. “Are you jealous?” She was teasing him. Great.

“I’m not - Look, if you want to run after Prince Charming over here, go ahead. Go for it.”

“Uh huh.”

“No, I’m serious -“

“Yeah, you’re totally being -“

“- if that’s your sort of thing -“

“- cool about this -“

“- then that’s all right. Not like I’m a match for the star-spangled legend -“

“Tony.”

She cut him off with that one word. It was so lovely when she said his name. Now that typical mix of indulgence and exasperation was plastered across her face.

“You’re being silly.”

“Am I?”

“Yes.” A frown. “There’s something else to this, isn’t there?”asked Pepper, because of course she guessed.

“No.”

“Tony…”

“You know, I really like it when you say my name.”

“I know.”

“You do? Because that’s -“

“You’re changing -“

“- manipulative.”

“- the subject.” She closed her eyes briefly, still smiling. “Come on, tell me. What’s Iron Man’s beef with Captain America?”

Tony flicked at the screen so that the frozen face became bigger. He stuck his hands in his pockets while staring at that stupidly good looking face. “My father used to tell me all about him. This amazing hero. I was so jealous of him. God, that sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?”

“A little, yes.”

Tony gave her a wounded look.

“Okay, maybe that was a bit mean.”

“A bit.”

“Uh huh. Your father knew him, right?”

“Yeah. They met in the Second World War. He says he was there when the guy got all buffed up with his super steroids but he was probably just boasting. But yeah, he was the perfect soldier. I could never be as good as him, of course.”

“Not exactly fair to expect you to compete with some guy injected by a super-serum.”

“Oh, it wasn’t his strength. It was how brave and good and heroic he was. There wasn’t a battle out there that Captain America would shy away from, and he worked so hard every day for the good of the country. Not like me, of course.” He realised how inadvertently bitter the words had become and turned his head away a little from Pepper. Yet she raised out and stroked his face with her fingers, somehow both soft and strong at once.

“That was then,” she said. “You’ve come so far.”

“I have, haven’t I?” he said, staring deep into her kind eyes. “I am spectacular, I suppose.”

He bent a little closer, his eyes on those moist lips.

“You suppose?” she murmured, fingers creeping down so they nestled his chin. “How modest.”

“I have my moments.”

Their lips brushed as he leaned into her. A soft kiss and all the sweeter for it.

She grinned at him as she pulled back a little, hand falling to take his hand and squeezing it.

“And you’re definitely not going to run off with him?”

“He’s not really my type.”

“What is your type?” asked Tony instantly, delighted to see just a hint of colour in Pepper’s cheeks.

“Oh, they tend to be arrogant -“

“-I’d call it confident -“

“- and think they’re smarter than they are -“

“- some would say genius -“

“- and generally unbearable,” finished Pepper, her smile undermining her words.

“You put up with me all right.”

“Just about.”

He leaned in again, no longer paying attention to the screen as his other hand fumbled around until it found hers, pulling them both towards her. She squeezed both of them now as he gazed back at her. This wan’t too bad.

“Just about? That’s good enough for me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ugh, they deserve happiness.  
> This has probably/definitely been done before but I did want to try and write their relationship. I hope I did them justice, as well as Tony's angst about a whole lot of other stuff.  
> Do please comment, leave kudos, share, etc.!


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